Thanks RWU, I try to learn. I wouldn't have wanted to be the guy in the LHS on that flight with my current experience level. The captain of that day is also a very young and very keen pilot and he made an excellent decision based on what we knew then and suggested the left turn. I'm quite shure he at the least spared the company a paint job and certainly spared the passangers some grief. The more I think of it, the more I come to the conclusion that it is all dependant on how confident you are with what the terrain looks like beneath and ahead. High confidence will provide a little leeway with which to compensate for various factors (although my aim will in all normal cases to be bang on
). In this case, yes we were pretty confident.
One suggestion that I got from a more experienced guy was to look at the radar image in clear weather to get a picture of what the terrain will produce on the screen. Then in bad weather, anything in addition to the "normal" picture will be easier to interpret as something to avoid. Will this be useable with regard to the mechanics behind radar? I'll have to have a look next time! Anyhow, I've learnt a lot from this and the subsequent discussion I've had with colleagues and on here.
Thanks/ LnS